The Trumps asked to borrow a van Gogh from the Guggenheim; head curator had a better idea.

January 25, 2018

The Washington Post’s Paul Schwartzman is reporting that the White House asked the Guggenheim for a loan of Vincent van Gogh’s 1888 Landscape with Snow for the Trump’s residence.

Guggenheim’s chief curator, Nancy Spector firmly said no to that request, but—in a moment of brilliant irony—offered a different work of art that might be a better fit for the First Family. According to the Post, Spector’s alternative was the 18-karat, fully functioning, solid gold toilet. An interactive work titled “America,” the toilet was created by Maurizio Cattelan. Critics have described the work as a pointed satire aimed at the excess of wealth in this country.

Landscape with Snow is believed to be one of the first paintings that van Gogh made in Arles and it is one of about ten oil and watercolor paintings that he made of the area’s snowy landscape.